The presence of pharmaceuticals in our waterways and drinking water has gained national attention among lawmakers, regulators, and the public. Prescription drugs can enter water through manufacturing waste, human or animal excretion, runoff from animal feeding operations, leaching from municipal landfills, or improper disposal. With many questions still unanswered regarding the scope of the problem and its consequences for human health and the environment, NRDC conducted an extensive survey of the scientific data, legal analyses, and existing advocacy campaigns around this issue. Based on our findings, we offer several recommendations related to drug design, approval, production, use, and disposal to curb the flow of pharmaceuticals entering our water systems and lessen the impacts of the pollution they cause.Get document in pdf.

Watersheds and drinking water systems across the nation remain at risk for contamination from the endocrine-disrupting pesticide atrazine. The U.S. EPA's inadequate monitoring systems and weak regulations have compounded the problem, allowing levels of atrazine in watersheds and drinking water to peak at extremely high concentrations.

Clearing the WatersFrom the Chesapeake to California, NRDC is fighting to restore America’s threatened waterwaysOverview

The United States has made significant progress cleaning up the nation's waterways since Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972, but much more remains to be done. Although some of the most obvious signs of contamination have disappeared, other sources of pollution persist, and water resources are frequently overtaxed, particularly in the West.

Documents Tagged drinking water in All Sections

Cutting Our LossesState Policies to Track and Reduce Leakage form Public Water SystemsOverview

As states and communities contend with the twin challenges of an aging water infrastructure and a changing climate, leaky water systems threaten the quality and reliability of our drinking water. Some states are leading the way by requiring best practices for estimating, locating, and reducing leaks. Find out what policies are being adopted to report water losses accurately and set targets for water loss reduction.

A petition to the FDA and attached report on the results of NRDC's four-year study of the bottled water industry, including its bacterial and chemical contamination problems. The petition and report find major gaps in bottled water regulation and conclude that bottled water is not necessarily safer than tap water.

Is our water clean enough for our children to drink? Does it contain fertilizers or other dangerous chemicals? What if someday we turned on the tap and nothing came out? Some sources of California water are safe and sustainable. Some create significant health and environmental challenges.

Communities across the country are concerned about the risks that oil and gas production using fracking poses to drinking water sources, and scientists and environmentalists are increasingly concerned about groundwater and surface water contamination that may be associated directly or indirectly with fracking. NRDC opposes expanded fracking until effective safeguards are in place.